Patrick Gunkel Explained

Patrick M. Gunkel (1947 – 2017) was an American futurist and independent scholar best known as the originator of "ideonomy", a combinatorial "science of ideas". Although he never completed a degree, his career included positions at the Hudson Institute, MIT, and the University of Texas.^{[1] [2]}

Guido Enthoven describes Gunkel's ideonomy as one of three pioneering attempts to create a science of ideas (the others being Antoine Destutt de Tracy's original notion of ideology and Genrich Altshuller’s TRIZ "system of inventive problem solving"),^[3] while Marvin Minsky described ideonomy as "perhaps the most extensive study of ways to generate ideas".^[4] An archive of his works was assembled by Whitman Richards.^[5]

Notes and References

1. News: Stipp . David . 1 June 1987 . "Patrick Gunkel Is An Idea Man Who Thinks in Lists" . Wall Street Journal . 10 July 2023.
2. News: . 28 March 2017 . "Patrick Gunkel, Ideonomy Scholar, Well-Known as The Cat Man" . The Vineyard Gazette . Martha's Vineyard . 10 July 2023.
3. Book: Enthoven . Guido . Rudnicki . Seweryn . Sneller . Rico . 2022 . Towards a science of ideas: An inquiry into the emergence, evolution and expansion of ideas and their translation into action . Vernon Press . Chapter 1: Towards a science of ideas . 978-1-64889-425-1.
4. Book: Minsky, Marvin . 2006 . . Simon & Schuster . Chapter 7: Thinking . 0-7432-7663-9.
5. Web site: Ideonomy: The Science of Ideas . MIT website. July 10, 2023.